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Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands

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Greatest Hits Radio West Midlands
Broadcast areaWest Midlands
FrequencyWest Midlands (county) – 105.2 FM,
Coventry & Warwickshire – 1359 AM,
Herefordshire & Worcestershire – DAB only,
Programming
FormatOldies
Ownership
OwnerBauer
Free
History
First air date
4 September 2012
Links
WebsiteGreatest Hits West Midlands

Greatest Hits Radio West Midlands is a radio station, serving the West Midlands. It is owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. The station launched on 4 September 2012 as Free 80s.

History

Gold

Orion Media was formed in 2009, following the purchase of five Midlands-based radio stations – namely BRMB, Mercia, Wyvern, Beacon and Heart 106 from Global for a sale price worth £37.5 million.[1] In early 2012, Orion announced plans to rebrand BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern into one station as a means of generating greater revenue. They were renamed as Free on 26 March 2012.[2] Many of these stations had previously operated an AM-based Gold service, all of which had been subsumed over time into Global's Gold network – Orion continued to run the AM stations as part of the Gold network on a franchise agreement, albeit with additional local opt-outs for extra sports coverage, including live football commentaries.

Sports coverage

Up until the rebrand of the FM stations, BRMB, Beacon and Mercia broadcast live football commentaries on Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers matches, under the Goalzone strand. The commentaries were subsequently moved to Gold, six months before the launch of Free 80s, and continued until the end of the 2014–15 season.

The following season, Free 80s continued to air sports programming under The Goalzone strand, an hour-long chat show on Monday and Friday evenings.[3] On 17 May 2016, the network's head of sport, Tom Ross, presented his final programme after 35 years working for BRMB, Xtra AM, Capital Gold and Free.[4]

Free 80s

On 24 May 2012, Orion Media announced it would relaunch its Gold West Midlands stations on AM frequencies and DAB as Free 80s.[5] Gold was replaced by test transmissions for Free 80s in the final week of August, and was officially launched on 4 September 2012.[6]

On 6 May 2016, the station's owners, Orion, announced they had been bought by Bauer for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.[7][8]

Greatest Hits Radio

On 7 January 2019, Free 80s was replaced by Absolute Classic Rock on 990, 1017 and 1152 kHz and on DAB in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Shropshire.

Free 80s rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio West Midlands, replacing Absolute Radio on 105.2 FM. In Coventry and Warwickshire the station broadcasts on 1359 kHz, and DAB only in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, forming part of Greatest Hits Radio network.[9][10]

Programming

Greatest Hits Radio West Midlands produces a mix of local and networked programming from Bauer’s Birmingham studios.

On weekdays, the West Midlands station opts out of networked programming and carries a regional three-hour drivetime show each weekday afternoon. Sunday to Thursday late nights, weekend breakfast and Saturday afternoon shows are networked from Bauer’s Birmingham studios to the Greatest Hits Radio network.[11]

The rest of Greatest Hits Radio's output originates from the network's Manchester and Liverpool studios, the studios of Clyde 2 in Glasgow and Bauer's Golden Square headquarters in Soho.

News

Bauer’s Birmingham newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 7am to 1pm at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins. National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried at other times.

Frequencies

References

  1. ^ "Midlands radio sale cleared". Radio Today. 2 July 2009. Archived from the original on 16 August 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Orion stations morph into Free". Radio Today. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  3. ^ The new season on Free 80s Archived 17 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Free Radio, 4 August 2015
  4. ^ Tom Ross hosts his last radio show in Birmingham Archived 18 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Today, 17 May 2016
  5. ^ "Gold to be Free Radio 80s in West Mids". Radio Today. 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  6. ^ "Free Radio 80s replaces Gold on AM & DAB". Radio Today. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  7. ^ Bauer buys radio group Orion Media Archived 5 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 6 May 2016
  8. ^ Orion Media sold to Bauer for £50m Archived 5 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The Telegraph, 6 May 2016
  9. ^ BAUER MEDIA TO LAUNCH THE GREATEST HITS RADIO NETWORK Bauer Media, 15 November 2018
  10. ^ Bauer Media to launch Greatest Hits Radio network Radio Today, 15 November 2018
  11. ^ Simon Ross moves to Radio City 2 Breakfast, RadioToday, 30 November 2015
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